Path Planning Method for Perpendicular Parking Based on Vehicle Kinematics Model Using MPC Optimization

In recent years, intelligent driving technology is being extensively studied. This paper proposes a path planning method for perpendicular parking based on vehicle kinematics model using MPC optimization, which aims to solve the perpendicular parking task. Firstly, in the case of any initial position and orientation of the vehicle, judging whether the vehicle can be parked at one step according to the location of the parking place and the width of the lane, and then calculating the starting position for parking, and use the Bezier curve to connect the initial position and the starting position. Secondly, reference parking path is calculated according to the collision constraints of the parking space. Finally, because the parking path based on the vehicle kinematics model is composed of circle arcs and straight lines, the curvature of the path is discontinuous. The reference parking path is optimized using Model Predictive Control (MPC). The final path is easier to be followed, and thereby improving the accuracy of parking results. Several simulations and experiments were carried out for the scenarios of one step parking and multiple step parking respectively. The simulation results verify the effectiveness and real-time performance of the proposed method. The parking path is smooth and the vehicle can effectively follow it, thus the vehicle can be accurately parked at the desired location.